Posted: 2/16/2017 3:03:30 PM EDT
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I have to return my wife's new computer. The audio is defective.
How do I delete her user info, such as web site passwords, wireless access passwords, email archive, etc? Heck, How do I delete her entire account. By delete I mean erase and overwrite so it is not recoverable. It is a Windows 10 OS. |
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Like with a cloth? Quoted:
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DoD wipe the hard drive. With software. Some examples |
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... make sure a full-disk wipe won't void the return policy. You may want to create a secondary admin account, delete your wife's user account and directory (and reg keys? dunno) then run a "free space wipe" / secure delete utility. ETA Remove User Profile Correctly in Windows 10 - Technig How to securely overwrite deleted files with a built-in Windows tool - PCWorld |
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... make sure a full-disk wipe won't void the return policy. You may want to create a secondary admin account, delete your wife's user account and directory (and reg keys? dunno) then run a "free space wipe" / secure delete utility. Done correctly, a Factory Restore using the recovery partition resets the device to OOBE (out-of-box experience). To a retailer it will look like it was never configured. |
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Will a "factory restore" truly wipe the previous data? My understanding is that data can be recovered even after the partition table has changed / logical drive has been reformatted.
AFAIK the only way to securely delete is to do one of the DoD over-write routines. |
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... make sure a full-disk wipe won't void the return policy. You may want to create a secondary admin account, delete your wife's user account and directory (and reg keys? dunno) then run a "free space wipe" / secure delete utility. Safe enough for most purposes. |
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Will a "factory restore" truly wipe the previous data? My understanding is that data can be recovered even after the partition table has changed / logical drive has been reformatted. AFAIK the only way to securely delete is to do one of the DoD over-write routines. Choosing to 'fully clean the drive' in Win10 restore will write zeroes to any data on the drive. |